Tech rallies from 17-0 to beat Oklahoma State

Mark Sparrow

11/18/2006

Graham Harrell threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas Tech past Oklahoma State 30-24 on Saturday. Tech rallied from an early 17-0 deficit against the Cowboys and hung on late to finish off the regular season with a win. The Red Raiders will finish the regular season 7-5 and will await next week's games to see where they stand in the bowl pecking order.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Graham Harrell threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns to lead Texas Tech past Oklahoma State 30-24 on Saturday.

Tech rallied from an early 17-0 deficit, scoring on five straight possessions to take a 27-17 lead late in the third quarter. The Cowboys had a chance in the final minute but Bobby Reid threw an incompletion into the end zone as time expired.

Harrell, who completed 28-of-44 passes, threw TD passes of 24 and 8 yards. Shannon Woods ran it in from 1 yard out and Alex Trlica kicked field goals of 28, 19 and 23 yards.

The Red Raiders (7-5, 4-4 Big 12) comeback was aided by poor field position for the Cowboys, whose first four possessions of the second half started inside their own 10-yard line. On the fourth drive, Oklahoma State (6-5, 3-4) drove 93 yards to close within 27-24.

Tech didn't get on track until late in the first half. The Red Raiders drew some boos from their fans when they ran the ball on third-and-goal from the Cowboys 7-yard line and Shannon Woods lost 4 yards. Tech settled for a field goal to close within 17-3.

On their final possession of the first half, Harrell and the Red Raiders started clicking down the field. Harrell completed 5-of-6 passes for 54 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Johnson to whittle the deficit to 17-10 at halftime.

After a successful opening drive, Oklahoma State scored late in the first quarter on a turnover. Jeremy Nethon forced Tech's Danny Amendola to fumble a punt return. Six plays later, Cowboys quarterback Bobby Reid ran 16 yards for a touchdown to put OSU up 14-10.